New Bar Association Launches in D.C

Attorneys and other legal professionals with Caribbean backgrounds launched a new bar association in the District. 

The DC Caribbean Bar Association took root at an October mixer with President and founder Zenia Wilson Laws, from Trinidad, and Vice President Jillean Workman, who has roots in Guyana and Barbados, are at the helm of the organization. 

Among the 50 people at the inaugural event, held in concert with the Mayor’s Office on Caribbean Community Affairs on Oct. 16 at Wild Days Rooftop in Northwest, was U.S. Shadow Rep. Oye Owolewa (D).

“The DC Caribbean Bar Association comes at a critical moment in D.C. history,” Owolewa said. “At a time where the federal government targets diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s important for us as a community to build grassroots power. Diversity is D.C.’s greatest strength. The DC Caribbean Bar Association brings together legal professionals from different backgrounds to challenge the status quo and bring meaningful opportunities to D.C.”

The association’s vice president said she was surprised that no Caribbean based social and community minded legal organization existed in the District given its strong population of people from that part of the world.

“We are hard workers,” said Workman. “When Zenia and I discovered that no Caribbean legal organization existed, we decided to get to work to start one. We want our countries and regions to be represented and we want the work to be carried forward.”

Workman, who holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and a juris doctorate from Cornell University School of Law, paired with Laws, a D.C. resident who attended Morgan State University and the University of Baltimore School of Law, in organizing the paperwork and fine-tuning the mission and purpose of the organization. 

The president of the organization said the DC Caribbean Bar Association is in line with other types of ethnic legal organizations such as the Hispanic Bar Association and the South Asian Bar Association in that it does not certify legal professionals but will offer continuing education courses, public services and events that highlight its work.

“It is time for our community to mobilize around the issues that affect us, such as immigration reform,” said Laws. “But we also have another purpose, celebrating our heritage, being our authentic selves and living in our truth as lawyers.”